The Pandemic Fund hopes to raise an additional $2 billion over the next two years, an ambitious but critical target, as it launches a new five-year, medium-term strategic plan. Securing the money is crucial to addressing critical gaps in pandemic preparedness globally.
“We already raised $2 billion in the first year, and now we're asking for $2 billion more [for our short-term pledging moment] to help bridge the needs that we have until we get on to a more sustainable financing pathway,” Priya Basu, executive head of the Pandemic Fund secretariat, told Devex ahead of the World Health Assembly underway in Geneva.
Established in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the Pandemic Fund was created as a dedicated financing mechanism to help strengthen countries’ pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, or PPPR, capacities, filling a gap in the global health architecture.